The Trump administration tapped three officers for three-star roles in the Air Force and Space Force, including a new director of operations on the Space Staff and a rare retired general officer who is set to return to active duty to lead Air University, the Pentagon announced Aug. 3.
The nominations were sent to the Senate on July 30 and referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
- Space Force Maj. Gen. Christopher S. Povak is nominated to become the new Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Operations, succeeding Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess, who is on track to be confirmed as the third-ever Chief of Space Operations.
- Retired Maj. Gen. Charles S. Corcoran is nominated to be the commander and president of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. Corcoran would replace Lt. Gen. Daniel H. Tulley, who is departing to take over Air Mobility Command.
- Also nominated for a third star is Space Force Maj. Gen. Robert J. Hutt, who will remain as senior military assistant to Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg. Hutt has been serving in that role since last August.
“The nominations of Maj. Gen. Chris Povak and retired Maj. Gen. Chuck Corcoran are exceptionally positive developments,” said retired Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, Dean of AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “These are serious leaders being selected for serious missions at a time when both the Air Force and Space Force must sharpen their focus on operational effectiveness.”
Schiess’ nomination to be CSO cleared the Senate Armed Services Committee easily and is awaiting a floor vote in the full Senate. Once confirmed, Schiess is expected to take over from Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, who retires this fall after nearly four years in the job.
Povak fills an important role that has been held by the past two CSOs. The deputy CSO for operations oversees a broad portfolio that includes policy development and implementation for operations, sustainment, training, and readiness. He spent the prior four years as deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, which operates U.S. intelligence satellites and is part of the Department of Defense, with tight links to the Space Force. Povak was deputy director of the Space Warfighting Analysis Center before going to the NRO.
Deptula said Povak was an “outstanding choice” to become the Space Force’s senior operations officer. “His experience at the National Reconnaissance Office and the Space Warfighting Analysis Center gives him an unusually valuable perspective. He understands both the architecture that produces space capability and the operational demands that capability must satisfy,” Deptula added.
Corcoran has been out of the Air Force since retiring in 2023. At the time, he was Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, the Air Force equivalent of the job Povak is nominated for now. He commanded the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., before that, including the Air Force Weapons School and USAF’s Red Flag exercises. An F-15C Eagle and F-22 Raptor pilot by training, Corcoran also commanded at the squadron, group, and wing levels.
Cororan is “exactly the kind of leader Air University needs,” Deptula said. “He is a highly respected warfighter, Weapons School graduate, combat-experienced commander, and former commander of the Air Force Warfare Center. He understands airpower not simply as an academic subject, but as a decisive instrument of national power that must be studied, taught, planned, and employed with professional competence.”
Added Deptula: “His nomination offers an opportunity to reconnect professional military education with the realities of modern warfare and to ensure that Airmen are being educated in Air Force history, doctrine, operational art, campaign planning, and the effective employment of aerospace power.”
Historically, few general officers return to Active-duty after retiring, although it is not unheard of. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach had vacated his prior job and was preparing to retire when he was nominated to become the 24th Air Force Chief of Staff last year; Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had retired when he was nominated to become Chairman in 2025.
But Corcoran’s three-year retirement is rare, with few precedents. One notable one: In 1951, Brig. Gen. Haywood Hansell Jr. was recalled after a four-year hiatus to head the Air Force’s Mobilization Division during the Korean War.
“General Corcoran’s return to active service is both a strong vote of confidence in him and a warning about the condition of Air Force talent management,” Deptula said. “When the service must reach into its retired ranks to find the leader with the right background for a key position, that should prompt a hard examination of how it has identified, developed, assigned, and retained operationally experienced leaders over the past several years.”
